Rasputin The saint who sinned
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An unlikely eccentric holy man, a mystic healer and a favoured advisor of the Tsarina, Rasputin was the most condemned and disdained figure in Russian history. The 'mad monk' of Russia, who contributed to the fall of the Romanov Dynasty, had a dark, and degrading image. But was he a profound mystic, a political scoundrel or a skilled manipulator of gullible women?
Rasputin (1869-1916) was born as Grigori Yemovich Novykh, in the small Siberian village of Pokrovskoe. The people changed his surname from Novykh to Rasputin, meaning 'The Debauched One', because of his scandalous sexual exploits as a youth. As a child there was great talk of his visions from 'a higher force' and his ability to heal. At the age of 18, Rasputin went through a religious transition, eventually travelling to the monastery at Verkhoture. There he was introduced to a secret sect called the 'Khysty', which profoundly influenced him. The sect indulged in sinful acts, as only after sinning could they repent and become closer to God. This mix of religious devoutness and sexual satisfaction, 'driving out sin with sin', was a notion that never left Rasputin...